Wil–Trans chose Telerik Reporting and Telerik UI for ASP.NET Ajax, Editor, Grid, Panel, TabStrip and Window controls. Telerik has enabled our application to be more interactive, dynamic, and easy to use.

Introduction

Wil–Trans is a family–owned trucking company located in Strafford, MO, US. Started in 1990 by former drivers with 12 trucks, today we operate over 150 trucks hauling refrigerated freight across the continental United States. With a full–time, in–house recruiting department, 24–hour dispatching, and a full–service mechanical and body shop, Wil–Trans manages the entire logistics process.

Project

Wil–Trans forged into the Web application field in 2001 with an online job application unlike anything in the trucking industry. Constantly changing, the online application grew beyond anything we ever expected, to include backend management of applicants, hires, and terminations. In 2006 it became clear that our development model was due for a change. With six in–house databases and three third–party solutions, it became very difficult to manage the flow of data from one system to the other, especially when there was a disconnect between all of the available solutions. Wil–Trans set about creating an extensible, dynamic Web application to secure and consolidate all of our in–house data, as well as integrate with third–party solutions like document imaging and business process management. Making all of this information available through a single Web application meant greater productivity, reduced software support, and superior disaster recovery.

The problem was complex: how do you create a dynamic interface on the Web that is functional, consistent, and attractive? The idea was simple: we would create a user–configurable layout engine to render WebForms driven off of the underlying database structure. The front–end would employ Telerik UI for ASP.NET Ajax to keep the site organized and styled and to validate and format user input. A dynamic reporting engine would utilize Telerik Reporting to provide real–time data to management and administrative users across multiple data sources. The Web application would interface with outside systems in a variety of ways, such as Web Services, remoting, and database stored procedures.

Having one .NET developer on staff meant that any controls used for the site had to be intuitive, powerful, flexible, and well–documented. Because of the vast scope of the project, we couldn’t afford to tie up the developer’s time sorting out bugs in third–party software.

Solution

Telerik surpassed our expectations by delivering a full–featured set of controls with easy–to–understand documentation and examples. The TabStrip allows us to control the flow of the public Web site content while keeping navigation compact and usable. The ability to easily skin Telerik’s controls has made it possible for us to develop a creative interface without sacrificing our company’s image.

UI for ASP.NET Ajax gives us the flexibility of a client/server application with the accessibility of a Web application.  Ajax has made it possible for us to perform operations on data without convoluting the user experience through page refreshes, redirects, or pop–up browser windows. The Editor enables full customization and formatting of field contents and, with XHTML compliance, makes XML serialization a no–brainer. The Grid is powerful enough to reduce our code to a few lines while remaining flexible enough to support large record sets, varied data types, and content templates for readability.

Telerik Reporting is an asset to any piece of management software. Our users can access real–time reports across multiple data sources anytime from anywhere in the world. The ability to create customized report objects while maintaining a generic delivery system was one of the key features that drew us to this product. Now we’re able to give users their reports based on their user type and group permissions without hard–coding any WebForms.

Conclusion

Telerik has been an integral part of Wil–Trans’ vision for success. Our choice was made easier and clearer when we selected Skelta BPM.NET — who uses Telerik controls in their solution as well — as our business process management software. The professional look, consistent performance, and ease of integration have helped the entire project come together much more smoothly than we thought.